Write On Wednesday-Coming Alive

Don't ask yourself what the world needs.

Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go do it.

Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

~Harold Thurman Whitman

Each time I run across these words, I feel an electric shock run down my spine.

They remind me that the world, myself included sometimes, is filled with people going through the motions of their days, finding no joy, no deep indwelling sense of satisfaction or accomplishment, nothing that creates the feeling of life abundantly lived. So these words prod and poke me, nudge me to search for what creates the spark of life in my soul.

They confronted me this morning when I opened my brand new copy of Foolsgold, by Susan G. Woolridge (author of Poemcrazy). Outside my window, a cloudy, drizzly September day waits for me. Another day in my office beckons, a day of paper shuffling and organizing, a day of sifting through piles of medical records and information. Nothing about the prospect of this day makes me come alive.

But if I am honest, I recognize that I am luckier than most~I've achieved half the battle to follow that credo. I, at least, have found the things that make me come alive.

Certainly, writing is one of them.

Foolsgold promises to help me "find the artist within by cultivating a creative lifestyle that will not only expand and inspire you, but may also ground and heal you." A "creative lifestyle" is what interests me here. In the past months, as I've come to realize how much writing means to me, I've allowed it to play a bigger role in my inner life. Yet I keep it tucked in the cupboard of my lifestyle, afraid to let it to play in the daylight hours, only taking it out when I've completed all the other, less livening activities. I think in order to start living that "fully alive" life the world needs, I must allow creativity to permeate my entire lifestyle, not just those few "off hours" when the regular work is done.

What does that mean in practical terms? I'm not sure. Perhaps Foolsgold will provide some answers, as I read it with that thought in mind.

It will be a journey, this "coming alive" process.

I'll keep you posted.

How about you? Have you found the things that make you come alive? Are you doing them?

Writer's Island-The Key

"What key are we in?" the musician will ask, inquiring about the tonality of the piece of music she's preparing to play. For singers, the key is vital, because it will determine whether the notes are too high or too low for the voice to produce. As a pianist, I'm also interested in key - music in certain keys has more "accidentals" than others, notes that have to be changed from the normal progression. Most musicians have their "favorite keys." Personally, I like the major flat keys, especially D flat. My fingers seem to naturally fit into that five flat pattern, and the tonality is especially pleasing to me, rich and full, with just a hint of melancholy.

Of course, it's not difficult to see the corollary between life in general and a musician's relationship with key. We all have certain patterns that best fit our moods, our inclinations, our desires. For some, life in C major, the simplest, most efficient of all keys, is perfect. While others thrive on life in g-sharp minor, with every key an accidental at least once (and don't even ask me to explain double-sharping!)

Not surprisingly, I prefer my life to be similar to my favorite key. D flat major falls just slightly above "easy", and is slipping toward challenging on the scale. Tonally, it's pleasant, yet interesting, evocative yet accessible. And, as Goldilocks would say, it fits me "just right."

Perhaps the key to happiness then, is identifying that "just right" tonality for your life. Naturally it's fun to experiment with other keys once in a while. I've gotten great satisfaction from mastering a piece in the key of C flat major, even though my brain felt like it was solving one long algebraic equation the entire time I was playing it!

But I'm always happiest when I return to the "tonic" - home base, in musical terms. After spending the day meandering through life, like a jazz pianist will wander from key to key, following some wild, unexpected path so far from where he originally began, I'm comforted to find my way home, and let those odd chord progressions resolve into my own natural tonic "do". The place that feels just right to my fingers and to my heart.

more keys are available on writer's island

Encyclopedia of Me Monday: G is for...

In all honesty, I'm not very goal oriented. I do alright with the minor goals - like getting the laundry done, learning my music for a concert, and finishing my work on time. But I'm not very good at setting those major life goals. In the "olden days" when I was growing up, there wasn't so much emphasis on goal setting and life planning. You just did what you were supposed to do...finish school, go to work, raise your family, live your life. Not even any of that "live your best life" stuff. Just get it done. Sometimes I'd like to be more of a goal setter, but it seems that every time I stick a toe in the goal setting water, life (and/or world events) get in the way, putting a monkey wrench in my carefully (and I mean, carefully!) laid plans. A few years ago, we set a goal for Jim to "semi-retire" at age 55, and we would move to Florida. With that in mind, we purchased a home, and then another home in Florida, hoping to use the equity from a booming real estate market to stake our retirement dreams. Well, I'm sure most of you know what's happened to the real estate market during that time~it's gone down the tubes, taking our retirement dreams with it.

"Set another goal!" life planners would advise. "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!"

Admittedly, I'm a bit gun shy about goal setting. Personally, some of the best things that have happened in my life were unplanned - getting married was actually never on my list of things to do-until I met Jim, that is. Having children - we had no plans for that either, but God thought otherwise, and thank goodness He did!

So perhaps I'll just continue on relatively goal-less. With the exception, of course, of making the most of every day, enjoying my friends and family as much as possible, and doing what I can to make the world a little bit better place.

Sunday Scribblings - My Name Is...

My grandmother called me Sugar, my dad sometimes called me the Queen of Sheba, my husband called me Sunshine. My friends call me Becky, my colleagues, Rebecca, and here in cyber space, I'm Becca (of the Byline). All these appelations bear some truth about my essential nature. Yes, I am sweet, as my grandmother recognized. Sometimes I do feel entitled to royal treatment, though I'm generally content to spread warmth and joy into the lives of those I love. I am a bit Old World, as the ancient history of my Hebrew name would suggest, but I'm willing to sample modernity when the situation requires.

I'm also a baby boomer, I was once a stay at home mom, and I'm now an empty nester. I float somewhere in the nether world between mid-life and senior citizen.

None of these nametags tell you very much about the essential Becca - the one who's all about family and home, fairness and honesty, simple pleasures and lasting love, enjoying life and honoring your gifts. Or the Becca who was once afraid of stairs and is still afraid of spiders.

From my simple introduction, you would never know that I love the water, but can't swim, or that I've always harbored secret dreams about ballroom dancing and race car driving. That I've been drinking coffee since I was three years old, and it's my drink of choice for most any situation. Or that I'm an only child, a child of divorced parents, and wandering through the world with a very tiny, precious number of people who share my blood. Unless you know me well, you wouldn't know how conflicted I sometimes get about my music and my writing (never good enough!). How much I worry about what will happen in the future~where will we live, will we have enough money, what will we do for health care. You wouldn't know that many mornings my eyes pop open at 4:00 am and all these worrisome thoughts invade my mind, poking and prodding, agitating me until I surrender and get up to make myself hot cocoa to soothe my pounding head.

I can now readily walk up to people, offer my hand, and say "Hi, I'm Becca. Have we met?" But I was once painfully shy, and rarely spoke unless spoken to first. I now realize the really interesting part comes after that simple introduction, where I get to know the person behind the name, and share a bit of my own essential self with another human being. That's what keeps us human, isn't it? The sharing of our stories, the offering of little bits of ourselves.

But it all starts with a name.

My name is Becca...have we met?

for more introductions, go here

Friday Feast #161 (But #1 for Me!)

AppetizerWhat is your favorite type of art?

I love the Impressionists - Monet, Renoir, Cassat. But I also love artistic photography, like Ansel Adams

Soup When was the last time you got a free lunch (or breakfast or dinner)? Who paid for it?

Today, as a matter of fact. My mom treated me to lunch in the dining room at Macy's Department Store - a real old fashioned "ladies who lunch" place, where we had our favorite~ Maurice salads

Salad

On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how emotional are you?

Ten years ago I would have anwered 8. Now, I'd say 5 or 6. I don't know whether I'm hardening with age, but I rarely cry about anything anymore. I sometimes cry after visiting my mother in law at the Alzheimer's facility where she lives. So many people with once vital, busy lives, now existing as shells of their former selves. Breaks my heart every time.

Main Course Approximately how long do you spend each day responding to email? Very little time. I don't receive a lot of email. I spend a great deal more time commenting on blogs -probably an hour a day. Dessert To what temperature do you usually set your home’s thermostat? Winter is coming, and the thermostat war will soon begin! I like it at 68, my husband likes it 70, so we're always sneaking around adjusting the thermostat on each other. Terrible for energy conservation, I know.

to sample other feasts, go here